He's back

We're popular. See? Yeah, there's five. I promise I won't put any more turtle pictures unless I see fifty or something.

I guess our visitor was scouting a nice spot for the fam...

I know it's blurry, but remember how shy he is? I think it's genetic. Even this blurry shot through the porch screen was hard to get because they keep running and jumping into the pond.

I'll wait for them to get more settled before we get the formal family portraits taken care of. Any ideas for a wardrobe theme?

I'm shy!

Another guest...

What? There's nothing there.

Got ya! He kept running and jumping into the water when I would go out to take his picture! Right now he's sunning just around the bend-- where I can't get a good shot of him.

I think he's shy.

Birdies at the Beach

First of all, sorry the pictures are small. Second, Noah's going to represent the family in this post because I was basically look ridiculous in the pics we took here! And finally, this counts as evidence that our local beaches aren't always covered in brown, foaming bubbles.

Yes, sandpipers http://bkpass.tripod.com/LeastSandpiper.jpg are common here, but we've never seen anything like the feeding frenzy we saw today. They would wait at the edge of the water and go after the tiny crabs-- and then fly and

run around with those things in their beaks. It was really cute to watch them because they were so busy! To them, "wait" meant to run to and from the water as it went out and came in. We walked about a mile down the beach with this flock.

See them flying? I couldn't see the screen on the camera because it was so bright, so I just pointed in that general direction and hoped to get lucky as they flew by.

The last (microscopic) pic is of a guy and his 3 dogs. We watched them swim in the water and then realized they were fetching a big board. Ambitious!

Nature (see the capital "N"??)

We've had some garden guests lately. At first, we thought they were cute, and they told us they wouldn't be any trouble-- "just dig up a little grass, that's all. We'll entertain your cats. We're looking to put a new 'road' in, see?" Fine, but keep the construction to a minimum. We agreed.

But then we found out that they aren't big on planning. And the 'road' was really going to be a 'highway.'

I guess that spot wasn't quite right, either. Those rascals.

Oh, don't let the hose stop you guys.

" Wait a minute! This is not a cartoon set! This wasn't in the deal, and by the way, you haven't been amusing the cats lately, either. We're sorry it's come to this, but..."

Imitation "Corsage Shirt"

Alicia and I were really inspired to hunt for and then carefully inspect garments in a way I've never done before. We were looking for inspiration. Here's my first attempt at copying something. I just tried to remember how the corsage shirt at j.crew looked-- no pics or anything. Appearantly, I saw one too many embelished tees that day and ended up with something that didn't really look like the inspiration. Well, what do you think? Is it worth the extra 20 bucks to just buy the original? (The tee I started with was $10 and the embelishments came from a tired tee.)

original:

http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Shop_By_Category/knitstees/perfectfittees/PRDOVR~14973/14973.jsp

and here's my "interpretation":

Photo Shoot

We recently took a road trip with the Campbells to Siesta Key. We all agreed that the impromptu photo shoot was the funnest thing we did. Here are some of the favorites:

Alicia says these are our "engagement" pictures

The setting sun was forgiving = no makeup! :D

Best friends: these two really understand each other
Look at Afton!

because you can can can can can

Some recent projects

A birdie sling

A buttercup bag

Some baby gifts

A baby shower for Kayla

An Easter dinner (forgot the rolls)

(This picture inspired us to get some dishes!)

An Easter dinner for everyone!

jump kitties, jump! okay, I think I fixed it, Julie - give it another try.